medicine
/ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/
"medicine" is a 8-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“medicine” is a regularly-used English word, ranked #1,908 in English word frequency and used as a noun.
- #1,908
- frequency rank, English
- 8
- letters
- 11
- tracked misspellings
- 3
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | medicine |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #1,908 |
| Misspellings tracked | 11 |
| Confusable pairs | 3 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “medicine” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for medicine is 8 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/. Corpus data places it at rank #1,908 in overall English word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 11 likely wrong-spelling variants for medicine, with forms such as "emdicine", "mdeicine", and "medciine". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 3 confusable-pair relationships, "Medici", "medicare", "medicinal", a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English medicin, from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicīnus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or… The correct English form is medicine, spelled M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E.
Definition
- 1A substance which specifically promotes healing when ingested or consumed in some way; a pharmaceutical drug.
- 2Any treatment or cure.
- 3The study of the cause, diagnosis, prognosis and treatment of disease or illness.
- 4The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons.
- 5The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons.
- 6The profession and practice of physicians, including surgeons.
- 7Ritual magic used, as by a medicine man, to promote a desired outcome in healing, hunting, or warfare; traditional medicine.
- 8Among the Native Americans, any object supposed to give control over natural or magical forces, to act as a protective charm, or to cause healing.
- 9Black magic, superstition.
- 10A philter or love potion.
- 11A physician.
- 12Recreational drugs, especially alcoholic drinks.
Etymology
From Middle English medicin, from Middle French medicine, from Old French medecine, from Latin medicīna (“the healing art, medicine, a physician's shop, a remedy, medicine”), feminine of medicīnus (“of or belonging to physic or surgery, or to a physician or surgeon”), from medicus (“a physician, surgeon”). The extended sense of "Indigenous magic" is a calque of Ojibwe mashkiki (“medicine”) or mide (or cognates in related languages) when used in compounds such as Grand Medicine Society, medicine lodge, medicine dance, medicine bag, medicine wheel, medicine man, Medicine Line, and bad medicine or place names such as Medicine Hat, Medicine Creek, etc.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: emdicine,mdeicine,medciine,meddicine,mediccine,medicien,medicinne,medicnie,mediicne,meidcine,mmedicine
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of medicine - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 English corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “medicine”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is M-E-D-I-C-I-N-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ˈmɛd.ɪ.s(ɪ)n/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “Medici” - see the side-by-side comparison. medicine vs Medici
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.